There Goes the Neighborhood Film Festival

A community event to view compelling films around the theme of urban struggles and hopes, culminating in a celebration of youth media makers from across the Capital Region: Youth FX in Albany, TBU Productions in Schenectady and Youth Media Sanctuary in Troy.

Join us in a conversation between filmmakers, urban planners, community organizers and film fest enthusiasts! Youth media films sponsored by Breathing Lights, Troy Drug Free Community Coalition, and Workforce Development Institute; There Goes the Neighborhood Film Festival supported by iEAR Presents!

12:00-12:45 What do you tear down next?, Roland/ Stoney, 1964; followed by discussion led by Charles Touhey, Board Chair of the Albany County Land Bank Corporation

What do you tear down next is a historic documentary following the conflict of old versus new in reshaping a metropolitan complex in upper New York State. The film asks what should be torn down and what should be preserved when a city rebuilds. Produced by WNET; a George C. Stoney Associates Production in cooperation with the University Council on Education for Public Responsibility.

12:45 – 1:15 98 Acres in Albany, with project team members Ann Pfau and David Hochfelder

Drawing on government documents, oral histories, and local reporting, this blog tells the stories of the 98 acres seized by the State in 1962 via eminent domain for construction of the Empire Plaza, before demolition and during renewal.

The Rapp Road Community Historic District is located in the Pine Bush area of Albany, New York. It is a 14-acre (5.7 ha) residential neighborhood, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was established in the 1920s by Rev. Louis W. Parson, an African American minister, and his wife, who had moved north from Mississippi in the Great Migration out of the rural South to industrial cities.

This program produced by WMHT over 2 decades ago, looks at the 25th anniversary of the Kerner Commission. We will screen excerpts of the program and then have people react. Dr. Alice Green was on the panel in 93…and is still doing the work, almost 50 years since the commission – what’s changed? Co-sponsored with WMHT.

5:30 FINAL DISCUSSION: YOUTH MEDIA CONNECTIONS in the CAPITAL REGION and BEYOND with Jamel Mosely, Bhawin Suchak, Noelle Gentile, Prince How do these pieces keep breathing? How can we work together to share knowledge across cities in the Capital Region and beyond, moving these pieces into the community in a deeper way? Youth media mentors and makers reflect and strategize for future creative action.

6:00 – 7:30 Community Potluck

with music from TRO / North Troy Peoples History Museum tours / Neighborhood Ambassador tours

MORE ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

What do you tear down next

Charles Touhey is a leader in community service in the Capital District. He has developed affordable housing, encouraged quality education and promoted economic development.

The Touhey Homeownership Foundation and Charles Touhey have been offering affordable 2 family homeownership opportunities to first time homebuyers in New York State for over 40 years. We are pleased to be partnering with Habitat for Humanity on a great new venture in which, with our partners, will transform the entire Sheridan Hollow neighborhood in Albany.

It is the mission of the Touhey Family Foundation to support efforts to address the impacts of poverty, racism, and other forms of social injustice and empower those adversely affected by this legacy.

He is currently Board Chair of the Albany County Land Bank Corporation.

George Cashel Stoney was a legendary documentary filmmaker who was considered by many to be a father of public access television, and a dear friend and mentor at the Sanctuary. He has mentored hundreds of young filmmakers as a professor of production and media theory at NYU, where he taught beginning in 1970. At NYU, he co-founded the Alternate Media Center, and his interns eventually went on the start the Alliance for Community Media.

George was born in Winston-Salem, NC, on July 1, 1916. Prior to his film career, he worked as a freelance journalist, and a photo intelligence officer. He began making films in 1946, focusing on films primarily in the areas of health and social change. Eventually he became Executive Director of the National Film Board of Canada’s influential Challenge for Change series from 1966-1970. George passed away peacefully at home on July 12, 2012 at the age of 96. He was an exceptionally friendly, engaging, and intellectually interested individual who never tired of giving his time to anyone with an inquiring mind. He’ll be missed.

98 Acres in Albany

Project team:

Dave Hochfelder is associate professor of history at University at Albany, SUNY. His research interests are in urban history, digital history, history of technology, and history of capitalism.

Ann Pfau is the author of one book on World War II history and working on a second. She is also co-p.i. of the 98 Acres in Albany project.

More about the project:

On the morning of March 27, 1962, thousands of families learned that the State of New York had appropriated their homes and businesses in downtown Albany via eminent domain. In their place would be built a massive modern office complex, the Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza, named for the man who envisioned transforming “historic but shabby” Albany into a “brilliant, beautiful, efficient and electrifying capital.”

Courtesy of the New York State Archives.

Within the 98 acres seized by the state lived a diverse population of roughly 7,000 people, old and young, black and white, immigrant and native-born. Among them were renters, roomers, and homeowners. They were served by more than 400 businesses, most of them small—neighborhood groceries, grills, taverns, tailors, and shoemakers. Over the course of two-and-a-half years, as the State demolished 1,150 structures to clear 40 city blocks, residents and businesses were forced to move out. In their wake, an army of architects, contractors, and construction workers moved in.

Crossroads: The History ofRapp Road

Beverly Bardequez is the president of Rapp Road Historical Association, which aims to inform the community of the history of Rapp Road and its distinct historical significance. Bardequez also leads work in the preservation and restoration of vacant buildings as Rapp Road and its history is in danger of being lost to Commercial Builders. Bardequez herself grew up in Rapp Road as a third generation resident and has watched it transform as private developers attempted to demolish the its history and the history.

More about the documentary:

Rapp Road has a rich history starting with Reverend Louis Parson venturing north from Shubuta during the Great Migration. He eventually bought 28 acres of land in the Pine Bush, with the help of William Toliver. Due to racist policies, black people could not acquire loans to purchase home so they found a community on Parson’s lot where together, the founding families cultivated the land and built their homes, which 12 families still live in.

Slow Mo Riot

Dr. Alice Green is the Executive Director of the Center for Law and Justice, a civil rights organization she founded in 1985. She has a doctorate in criminal justice and advanced degrees in education, social work, and criminology. The Center provides community education in civil and criminal justice, legal guidance and advocacy, crisis intervention, and community planning and organizing around criminal justice, civil rights and civil liberties issues of particular concern to poor communities and those of color. Dr. Green writes and lectures on racism and criminal justice and often does commentary and analysis for a number of newspapers and television and radio programs. With Dr. Frankie Bailey, she co-authored the book, Law Never Here, A Social History of African American Responses to Issues of Crime and Justice, ( 1999 Greenwood Press) and Wicked Albany(2009) and Wicked Danville(2011 History Press).

An active participant in her community, in 1998 Dr. Green was the Green Party candidate for Lt. Governor and its Albany mayoral candidate in 2005. She is a member of the Client Advisory Board of the New York State Defenders Association, Help Wanted Advisory Panel, WMHT, the Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King Lecture Series Board, Board of Senior Hope and the Advisory Board of the Capital District Chapter of the NYCLU. She is a founder and board member of the African American Cultural Center of the Capital Region. For over 20 years she worked as a prison volunteer.

In recognition for her work, Dr. Green has received numerous awards that include the Distinguished Alumna Award – Rockefeller College, Community Service Award – Albany Chapter NAACP, New York State Bar Association Public Service Medal, a 1994 Victor A. Lord Courage of Conviction Award, Awards from several community churches and prisoner organizations

Youth Media Films

In Albany, Youth FX has been working on a series of experimental documentary vignettes that explore the concept of home, community and belonging. These films are a form of resistance and empowerment telling stories of racial profiling, police brutality, and the refugee and immigrant experience from the perspective of young artists of color. The stories are deeply personal, highlighting the oppression and injustice these young people deal with, which causes a feeling of a loss of home. Their aim is to force viewers to confront the realities of young people living in communities that have been systematically and historically marginalized. Several of the pieces were originally developed by director Noelle Gentile as part of the multimedia theater production of “Which Way Is Home” a collaboration between Albany High School, Capital Repertory Theatre, National Coalition Building Initiative, Arts, Letters and Numbers and Youth FX.

Told By Us (TBU) Productions is a nonprofit organization founded by Prince Sprauve, offering disadvantaged youth an outlet for creative expression through music and film projects. TBU inspires participants to strive for greater academic performance, embrace responsible behaviors and promote awareness of social issues. TBU is contributing three media projects: “Lights On”, a music video filmed in a vacant house in Schenectady, with original song written and recorded by Trevor Yarter, Alexis Rivera, Josh Cseh, and Steven Rivera. “Vacancy” is a poem written by Hope Edwards, describing the emotional impact vacant houses invoke within the community, along with metaphorical comparison between the emptiness of a person and a house. “Community Hero” is a documentary of Schenectady resident Joe Piazza’s purchase and renovation of a vacant house on Paige Street, now his primary residence. TBU hopes these projects will inspire others to take notice and invest in the city of Schenectady.

Youth Media Sanctuary teaches multimedia skills to young people in North Troy. Youth producers created four documentary portraits on the theme of abandoned buildings in their economically devastated neighborhoods. “Jerry’s House” by Kai Griffin, Bryanna Mangual, Diajah Grier, Milan Miles, Andrew Pintro, tells the story of a family forced out of a deteriorating rental now abandoned, with a happy ending of owning a home. “Safer than Yemen?” by Bryan Mangual, Rachel Lord, Arianna Young, explores violence through a corner bodega’s view, opened by 1920s Italian immigrants, now transferred to Yemeni owners. “Lex & Orange” by Shatora Buckman, Jahsendah Dann and Ayisha Menko views childhood neighborhood now razed. “Sadie’s Grandmother’s House” by Sadie Anson recounts restoring a vacant building into a loving home. “Abandoned Building Haikus” were also created, in collaboration with “Breathing These Words” poetry workshop. Produced by Media Mentors Jamel Mosely, Kathy High and Branda Miller.